The present invention relates to landscaping and building equipment and more particularly to pneumatically powered blowers.
In recent years, the real estate market has been increasing. Increases in real estate activity, such as home sales, condominium sales, tear-down houses and new developments have occurred in much of the United States. Much of those trends have resulted in an increased need for building and landscaping materials. That trend is likely to continue as people look increasingly to real estate as a less risky and potentially more profitable investment. The need for equipment to dispense and disperse landscaping and building materials has also increased. Moreover, the healthy real estate market has opened up new areas to market such disbursement equipment.
There has previously existed equipment for dispensing landscaping and building materials. Much if not all of this equipment, however, has been provided on large scale equipment. Typically, a truck tractor or other large horsepower vehicle pulls a trailer upon which the disbursing equipment is connected permanently. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,556,237 and 6,036,406 set forth a truck trailer that is dedicated, and indeed modified, to permanently convey, feed and blow a large amount and capacity of a loose particulate, such as loose bark, compost, mulch, etc. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,054 and U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/01-00825 set forth large tractor trailer apparatuses for blowing straw, which is used as a mulch in large seeding applications. Other types of equipment, such as hydraulic seeders are also provided typically on a large scale, for example, requiring a truck tractor and trailer to transport the seeders.
While the above-described equipment has enjoyed commercial success, its use is better suited for large scale applications. While the larger apparatuses can be used for smaller applications, doing so may not be economical. For example, the above-described blower trucks have hoses that can be transported to reach a remote application. It may not be practical to load the truck and drive it to a point proximate to the application if the application is relatively small. However, if the pneumatic truck is not used, the real estate owner's option is limited to dispensing the materials by hand. The real estate owner must obtain the materials to be disbursed, transport the materials proximate to the application site, manually move the bags or containers of the material to the application site, and shovel or otherwise lift the materials from the bag or container to the application site. Such an endeavor is time-consuming and strenuous. The endeavor is also potentially expensive if instead performed by a contractor.
A need exists for a landscaping or building material disbursing device that is provided on a scale smaller than the devices described above. The user, or a contractor, should be able to tow or drive the device to a relatively small application or to an application that is difficult to otherwise reach. The device should be relatively inexpensive, so that an end-user or homeowner can rent or potentially purchase the device. On the other hand, the device should have enough power and durability to be used by a contractor, such as a lawncare service, regularly and over large stretches of time.